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Monday, June 18, 2012

Lake Konstanz

Last weekend was absolutely gorgeous, and to put that good weather to use, Kyle and I took a day trip to Lake Konstanz. Even though we had just received our shipment of household goods from Maryland and our house was a complete wreck, we couldn't pass up a summer day like that in the house.

Lake Konstanz (the Germans call it the Bodensee) is on the southern border of Germany and also borders Switzerland and Austria, about an hour and 40 minutes away. Being on the German side and looking across the lake has a breathtaking view of the Alps. The water is turquoise blue and scattered with sailboats. Your eyes just can't get enough of that view! We started off by having a picnic lunch at an overlook where the central feature (besides the view) is a huge cross and crown of thorns.

We then made our way through the medieval and picturesque town of Meersburg. Like most medieval towns, it is surrounded by a wall with a schloss, or castle, at the center, and has narrow streets lined with half timbered houses with flower boxes in the windows. But what makes this town so special is the lake side promenade. What better way to spend a summer day than sitting lakeside, drinking coffee, and eating ice cream? I'll tell you- eating ice cream that looks like spaghetti! My vanilla "spaghetti" ice cream was topped with an amaretto cherry sauce and shaved white chocolate to look like Parmesan cheese.

The town of Meersburg

We spent the rest of the afternoon at a winery on the lake doing some tastings. We bought a bottle of Aufricht Weingut's Gelber Muskateller.

After driving home we decided to ride our bikes (after piecing them together) from our house to a biergarten in the forest behind our town. (Not quite sure where the energy came from, but it stays light really late, so we might as well!) While the hills were a bit more than we anticipated, a couple half-liter beers awaited us at the end of the ride!